A Social Security Number is a unique set of numbers issued to all Americans, (now usually applied for before they leave the hospital at birth)used for identification and on all income tax forms, government communications and given to employers at the time of employment so that our "Social Security Tax" can be correctly applied to the correct person. That tax is paid by the employer out of our earnings. When we Americans retire, usually between the ages of 65 and 70, we draw "Social Security Pensions" based on the amounts paid in over the course of our working lives. In the early days my grandmother referred to it as "Old Age Pension." We genealogist extensively use the SSDI - Social Security Death Index - that is available on the internet to find dates of birth and death for our relatives who drew Social Security Benefits. If you died before receiving those benefits, as my husbands mother did at age 46, you will not be listed on that index. The Social Security Administration began issuing numbers in the late 1930's to all persons who worked. Only later were we required to have them for our children as well.
It is said that 4 million dependants (mostly dogs, cats and made up children) disappeared from the income tax rolls the year we were required to have numbers for each member of the family claimed as a deduction on our income tax returns. Hope this helps. Do you need to know what Income Tax is? La Nell -----Original Message----- What's a social security number? Foxy Enter the drawing for a FREE Legacy Cruise to Alaska or a FREE research trip to Salt Lake's Family History Library. Open to users of Legacy 6 Deluxe. Enter online at http://legacyfamilytree.com/FreeTrip.asp Legacy User Group guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ For online technical support, please visit http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
